Prior to the advent of the present invention, there has been a long-felt and ever increasing demand for power driven portable cutting systems which can be used in a wide variety of agricultural and/or forest related applications such, for example, as in the harvesting of Christmas trees, forest thinning operations, removal of brush in forest maintenance and/or reforestation projects, etc.; as well as in similar cutting operations. Indeed, as the ensuing detailed description proceeds, those skilled in the art will appreciate that in its broader aspects the present invention also fills a further somewhat related need for reliable power equipment which is characterized by low energy consumption requirements and which can be employed on a cost-effective basis for mowing fields, lawns and similar vegetated areas.
Many different types of systems have been developed for use in such cutting applications; and, indeed, a wide variety of such systems have been, and are being, employed today including, but not limited to, a multiplicity of different types of power mower devices. Two such tree cutting systems are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,627,022--Fulghum, Jr. and 3,857,425--Wiklund. Thus, in the aforesaid Fulghum, Jr. patent, the patentee discloses a timber shearing apparatus wherein a shear blade is hydraulically driven towards an anvil for purposes of cutting a tree trunk positioned within the jaws of the apparatus. Wiklund, on the other hand, discloses a power operated frusto-spherical, cap-shaped saw blade which is also moved through a cutting path by means of an hydraulic cylinder. No provision is made in either of these patent disclosures for storing potential energy in an energy accumulation device and thereafter utilizing such stored potential energy to drive a cutting blade through a cutting path.
Other conventionally employed apparatus used for purposes of felling timber, harvesting Christmas trees, and the like include power-operated chain saws as well as axes and similar cutting devices, all of which are highly dangerous and require considerable expertise and dexterity on the part of the user in order to effectively employ such equipment for their intended purposes without inflicting injury to and/or otherwise fatiguing the user.